Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The Cycle of Damage

A colleague of mine has a very difficult case. His client sexually
abused his children. We have spent a great deal of time talking about it.

When his client was a child, he was violated in the same way.
The Supreme
Court had already predicted what would happen next. Long ago, the Court
recognized that, “sexually exploited children are unable to develop healthy
affectionate relationships in later life, have sexual dysfunctions, and have a
tendency to become sexual abusers as adults.”

What should we do with victims of sexual abuse who
predictably repeat the cycle? Is their moral culpability diminished by the
abuse they suffered themselves? If so, does that fact mitigate the harm of the
offense?

The simple counterargument is that the present client has
already telescoped the same harm, endangering children down the road. But that
facile position imposes a false moral equivalency. The desire to divide people
into camps of victims and perpetrators elides the reality that a lot of
perpetrators are victims. We should recognize that.